Jeantech Time Travel

By Michael Cleveland

There are days when Jean really loves having people like Vapula around.

Being the Archangel in charge of doling out pieces of divinely inspired science and wisdom can be quite troublesome at times. Oh, the knowledge that what you do serves the greater glory of the creator is a wonderous thing, and the thrill of learning another one of God's mysteries is something that no mere angel can comprehend. But with being an Archangel comes having Servitors. Servitors who fail to understand that there must be a time and a place for everything. Servitors who fail to grasp that mankind is not yet ready to ride in a fusion powered rocket sled, or capable of marvelling at the beauty of energized plasma sustained inside a magnetic bottle. Angels, just like humans, want everything now.

And that's where Vapula comes in.

If you ever want to guarantee that a device or principle will never be used by any sane being, find a way to get the notion into Vapula's head that something is neat. Better still, attempt to arrange for one of the other Princes to specifically ask him not to do something. If the established patterns hold in your particular situation, two things will most likely occur. The first is that Vapula will agree to do (or not do) just about anything to get the 'babbling imbeciles' out of his precious laboratories. The second, and more objectively useful thing, is that Vapula will begin to wonder why the Prince took such an interest in something not occuring. Were Jean the sort to become subjective, this is where the metaphorical fun would begin...

One of the main differences between the Jeantech and Vaputech research cultures is that, unlike Jeantech's approach to things, Vaputech holds that there is no such thing as a failure, only 'unexpected data that did not fit initial projections'. Where Jean holds that certain things, while possible, are not practical in theory, Vapula holds that if something can be done, there must certainly be a reason to do it. That one is not evident means nothing - it simply requires that more resources and more funding be devoted to finding its purpose. Jean assumes that this must be due to Vapula's search for divine inspiration in his Technological pursuits - not looking at discoveries logically, he takes every shred of evidence as a sign that God is trying to tell him something. This makes every new piece of senseless trivia an insight into the mind of God, which must be analysed and studied and length so that God's will might be achieved.

Jean understands Vapula's fervor, in a way. Both of them feel the exact same thrill of emotion when an experiment comes out differently than they expected, and both of them realize that God is trying to tell them something. Jean has realized that more often than not, what God is trying to convey is "That doesn't work." Unfortunately for Jean this is not always the case, as Vapula, failing to realize that something is supposed to be impossible, goes right on ahead and does it.

Time travel is a good example - Jean's been aware of the theories behind temporal mechanics for some time now - and although it takes considerably more than 1.21 gigawatts of electricity to bend space-time enough to allow for a celestial to enter a state of temporal malleability, it's not out of his reach by any means. However, with space-time being set in the currect patterns that it is, gallavanting around in days gone by is simply not a wise option. Were it not for the inherent dangers, Jean himself would seldom be found in this portion of space-time, preferring instead to learn more about the parts of the ancient past that have been lost to the ravages of the elements. Still, despite the dangers of time travel, and despite the lack of definitive data on temporal manipulation, quite a few people would still try it. Left unchecked, the timeline could be shattered in quick order.

And that's where Vapula comes in. Give Vapula an idea. Let him run with it for a while. Watch as he takes a molehill and turns it into the mountain where God is preaching from on high. Watch as he butchers his servitors slowly and methodically in his never-ending pursuit of knowledge of "God's intentions". In little to no time at all, all the risks of a particular path of knowledge or a particular train of thought will become horrifyingly evident to anyone that comes near. People will go out of their way to stop others from delving into that field, trying to delay the metaphorical Genie's release from its bottle. And when research is finally halted, those involved will breathe a sigh of relief at having caught such an abomination in time, leaving it to Jean to determine if there is a safe way to do such things.

So, in giving Vapula access to some of the more disturbing natural secrets of the universe, Jean forces Vapula into conflicts with his fellow Princes, diverts resources and personnel into unusable projects, and makes people less willing to accept Vapula's latest "gifts". All the while, Jean sits back watching the servants of Technology plod onward with their newest toys and gizmos, waiting for the timers within them to go off and destroy themselves with the knowledge that they so sought. As the angels look on, they look gratefully at their Archangel of Lightning, silently giving thanks to God that their Archangel would never bring such horrible things into the world, things the like of which they might of asked for, but now know better.

There may be a few minor moral issues, but really, the logic is sound...